The fan size of a conventional hair dryer sets a limit on its power rating, since any increase in the power supplied to the hair dryer which is not accompanied by a corresponding increase in the rate of air flow will necessarily raise the air temperature. Excessive air temperatures would be uncomfortable to the user and even dangerous. In order to construct a hair dryer which is capable of providing a higher rate of heat output than a conventional hair dryer, it is necessary to find some way of increasing the air flow. In the case of a hand-held hair dryer, this presents a problem since too large a fan is liable to make the hair dryer cumbersome and unusable.
In one hair dryer which is currently being sold, this problem has been met by providing a pair of fans each cooperating with a respective air inlet in the casing of the dryer, the fans being mounted one at each end of a common drive shaft which extends through the heating section of the dryer and is driven by a motor at one end of the casing. While this arrangement permits a higher rate of air flow than was previously possible, a disadvantage results from the fact that the fans are located at opposite ends of the heater section and act in direct opposition to one another.
An object of the present invention is to provide an alternative arrangement which permits a higher rate of air flow while avoiding this disadvantage.